Slovak PM works factory night shift in solidarity with workers

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has finished an eight-hour night shift on the assembly line at a factory north of the capital Bratislava to show solidarity with workers wanting increased wages.The move comes after German investors represented by the German-Slovak Industry and Trade Chamber (DSIHK) filed a protest last week against a new wage bill planned by Fico’s government for higher premiums for night work.“One of Slovakia’s strongest competitive advantages, the flexible and relatively economical facilities for night and weekend shifts, is threatened to be lost in one stroke,” the DSIHK said in a statement.The domestic employers’ association PAS also joined the German protest.Slovakia is considered to be a low-wage country within the European Union to which western EU firms can outsource part of their production.The bill envisioned by Fico’s Social Democrats would see a €1.40 ($1.66) premium for every hour of night work.Currently, night shift workers received only 50 euro cents per hour added to their normal wages, corresponding to 20% of the legal minimum wage.Under the planned law, Sunday work would see a considerable pay increase, to 100% instead of 50% of the contracted hourly wage.